But....it's not that simple.



The choice Casey makes at the end of that episode leads directly to the one he makes at the end of the film. This sequence is absolutely integral to the journey of the character.

I absolutely agree about this. I usually hate it when others say that...but to dismiss this part of the film is useless and unnecessary means that the message the film is trying to convey wasn't quite understood.

Felt like the point would've been made just fine without that segment. At least to me anyways.

Me about to sleep and I run into this.

The films base of operations is in the lower sewers of society and hence its characters are perfectly in line with reality. The worst aspects of that reality? Yes, but the film doesn't make any of the assumptions you seem to, it doesn't say EVERYONE in this area is like this hence you're entire supposition is erroneous in the extreme.

This isn't Crash where you have Ludacris spouting dialogue better suited to a Plato scholar before carjacking Sandra Bollock, all the characters are consistent with the societal niche they are found in.

That sequence allows the Affleck character to define his moral code, at it were, which leads to his selfish, self-righteous decision at the end.

Among other thematic values.

You crazy man, I shall bust a cap on yo ass!!

Wouldn't the decision be enough to define his moral code? If the message is Casey is self-righteous, the end and along with his actions throughout the film (like trying to take the Cheeze negotiations into his own hands), tells us what we need to know about him without the pedophile sequence spelling it out again.

The shooting is when he 'takes the law into his own hands,' as such. The cops all applaud, they've done it too. But Casey is young, inexperienced, without a fully formed moral code, good or bad. This action eats at our hero, he rebels from Harris and his ilk. Thus, at the end, he's going to do the right thing, the lawful thing, no matter what it does to the poor girl; he's chosen moral self-righteousness over the welfare of a child.

Or you can argue Casey was already self-righteous. Again, being a private detective, trying to take hold of the Cheeze thing, making the promise to Ryan. The only thing the Petrio story did was lay it out for the audience, in a random subplot that was jarring when put next to the otherwise tight series of events.

No you couldn't.

He decided to deal directly with Cheeze because he knew him personally and knowing his volatile nature knew that he'd have a far better chance of getting the kid back alive then if the cops went in.

The promise to Ryan's character occurred when she broke down in tears and needed comfort of any kind, his reaction was a perfectly natural human thing to do.

Those events can be interpreted both ways

Casey killed the pedophile because he was already self-righteous... People are what they are, maybe he didn't accept it on the surface yet, but that, like the last decision and his entire line of duty, showed it.

woah woah woah

So your saying (correct me if I'm wrong) that if you burst into a room and found a kid dead and the murderer beside you that you wouldn't have an urge to kill that person? Its pure deep rage the character felt that would have stripped away any logical or measured thoughts.

Some people would have pulled back, some (like this character) would not, but to call it self-righteous is just wrong in my view.

Shack, killing the pedophile brought about the change in Affleck. By the end of the movie, he would have no longer made a choice like that. His final decision is, at least in part, a stab at absolution (Catholic guilt, baby!) for his sin. He puts this need for forgiveness ahead of the Amanda's safety. All because of his sin. Catholicism dripped from this movie like blood from a barber's chair on fleet street.

I think its a silly argument all around, personally, because even if you find it unnecessary, it makes all kinds of thematic and narrative sense.

Ah yes, Catholic Guilt. Shaping lives since 33 A.D.

Never underestimate it. I'm still in the process of getting rid of mine, takes bloody ages!!

I guess that's where the disagreement is. I felt Casey was self-righteous from the beginning as a private detective and through tons of examples (I didn't even mention before the opening monologue where he treats himself like a hero who has to "protect" the children of his neighbourhood) and would've made the decision anyways. The "changing" scene felt like hammering on a motivation that the film and character didn't need.

Think this got a bit carried away.

Not at all, no swearing or personal insults thrown I'd call this fun

Yeah, what went too far about this? Just discussing the movie!

I disagree with you that it got carried away, Shack. In fact, that's one of the more intelligent and mature discussions I've seen on this site, film-related or not.

As for the film.... my problem wasn't so much that I didn't believe the journey the character underwent, it was more that I got tired of being bashed over the head with the morality this film is displaying. I just found it heavy-handed. Not to mention that the twists were laid out exactly as they are in a generic crime thriller, with the flashbacks and all that. The film tries to pass itself off as something more with the moral dilemmas, but when it comes down to it, it's just another crime thriller with a double twist ending.

What I meant was, I ended up complaining about the subplot for a bigger reason than I intended. For the most part my original complaint was that a whole seperate subplot like that felt like a disruption. It wasn't the changing scene itself that bugged me, it was the jarring way it was presented. But I kinda got into it and eventually took jabs at the entire scene (which I still feel is a bit of a hammerhead moment).

But before that incident, Affleck's decision would have been different.

I can understand most of the complaints, also those trixster makes in his reviews.

But really, to call the pedophile subplot unnecessary is as if you said that the kidnapping of Tim Robins as a kid in Mystic River was an unnecessary distraction as well. Like it or not, these were the intergral parts of erach film.

All I know is this:



In lower class South and East Boston? Think again. I don't live too far away from either location.